Wootton Bassett (Saturday 23rd July 2022)

When I last visited the Wilts & Berks at Chaddington Lane on 10th June the pair of breeding swans were still nesting after fifty days or more, and I concluded that hatching must be imminent, so the next time I was in Wootton Bassett I made sure I could check in to see if they had been successful. The non-breeding pair on the Studley Grange side of the bridge were present and both of the other swans were just below the bridge on the other side but disappointingly were not accompanied by any cygnets. I walked up to the nest looking for clues, and found it deserted and empty. I asked a couple of people passing by if they knew whether the eggs had ever hatched but they didn't know.

Later I called in at the Jubilee Lake a short distance away. There were no swans or geese on the lake, only a few moulting mallards. When I was last there in January I learned that a sculpture of a kingfisher had been picked up from its plinth by yobs and hurled into the lake, where it still resided.

Later local people managed to fish it out and it was taken away by the town council so that it could be repaired and restored. In a statement the council said: "Great news, the Kingfisher has been repaired and is now placed back to where it belongs, for visitors to the lake to enjoy once again. Huge thanks goes to the artist who has done an amazing job in restoring the damage and our grounds team have done a fantastic job with installing it onto a concrete base and bolted in place."

The sculpture had been part of a Kingfisher Trail, one of 22 sculptures decorated by local artists for public display in and around the Cotswolds. It was created by Hannah Dyson, based in Stroud, who was also responsible for its restoration.

The kingfisher trail was a temporary event but local residents made a bid for it to remain after the event ended. An auction for all the trail sculptures was arranged for October 2021 and this one was purchased for the Jubilee Lake prior to the auction, thanks to two local residents.

An inscription on the base reads "All hail the King Fisher".

I also walked a footpath alongside Thunder Brook (a minor tributary of Brinkworth Brook that in turn flows into the Bristol Avon near Great Somerford) to the north-west of the Lake until it ended at a field.

L.
Sunday 24.7.2022 (1205 hr)

Blip #3708 (#3458 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #000
Blips/Extras In 2022 #145/265 + #059/100 Extras
Day #4503 (1052 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2850 (#2690 + 160 in archived blips)

Wootton Bassett series
Art series

Taken with Pentax K-50 (Red) and Sigma AF 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro HSM lens

Visits To The Wilts & Berks Canal, 10 June 2022 (Flickr album of 23 photos)
A Visit To Wootton Bassett, 23rd July 2022 (Flickr album of 19 photos)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Robert Fripp - Breathless (Third Edition) (recorded June 1977 - January 1979, New York NY)
Sounding rather like the King Crimson album Red to me, this instrumental turned up on a recent Freak Zone programme.

One Year Ago:
Flower Friday